The Gift Exchange
by taydo-the-potato
Summary: A sickeningly sweet oneshot featuring Huey and Jazmine during the holidays.


_**A/N:** Heyyyyyyyy! So I'm in between writing for Complicated and I came up with this idea off the top of the head so like... why not? I know the holidays are over but here's a _lil somethin' somethin' _for the '99 and_ the 2000 _! (if they don't understand that ref, they too young bruh.) Also, I started a_ ko-fi _page that I will put on my profile. Basically, if you like works and you want to support me, consider buying me a ko-fi! I love you guys and don't forget to **Read &Review**_!

* * *

He rolled his eyes as Tom poured Granddad another drink. He looked down at his watch; it was already almost midnight; why were they still here?

Huey also didn't understand why they had to be at the Christmas Eve "soirée" when he also had to come to the Christmas Day "celebration" tomorrow.

He sighed and got off the DuBois's couch, desperate to be anywhere else not surrounded by tipsy adults. Riley was off somewhere, probably doing something he had no business doing. At the moment, he was alone in a strange place he hated. He couldn't even eat any of the food since it wasn't vegetarian. This was the suckiest Christmas he's had in his eleven years of life.

"Hi Huey!" Jazmine greeted, popping out of practically nowhere. Although Jazmine was his friend, she had been playing with the other neighborhood kids Tom had invited and he wasn't really interested in playing whatever stupid game they made up. "Merry Christmas!"

"Yeah, whatever."

She rolled her eyes. "It's a happy time Huey; at least pretend to have Christmas spirit!"

"Fine," he muttered. "Happy Holidays, Jazmine."

She smiled widely. "Thank you!" She inhaled the flavorful aroma of the air. "Don't you just _love_ the smell of gumbo? My Nana came all the way from Louisiana and she's making it for tomorrow. She's gonna show me how to make it so I can make it for _my_ family when I get older!"

"Right," Huey simply replied. "Well considering I don't eat meat…"

"Oh. She also can make you 'vegetable gumbo' that doesn't take as long but really it's like a vegetable soup and not really a gumbo but she does add some beans for some kind of protein—"

"Jazmine. You're rambling."

She put her hand over her mouth and giggled. "Oops! Thanks, Huey! Hey, I wanna show you something!" She grabbed his hand and led him into the front room where the Christmas tree stood, decorated from head to toe and littered with presents. "Okay, at midnight I want to give you your gift."

"Why can't you give it to me now?" he questioned, leaning against the wall. "It's only two minutes until midnight."

"Because silly!" she replied matter-of-factly. "It's Christmas _Eve_ , not Christmas _Day_."

"Okay, but what's the differ—"

"Just wait Huey Freeman!" she interrupted. She turned to the tree and grabbed a small rectangle that sat on top of another gift. She held the wrapped present until the clock on the wall finally hit 12 am. She turned back to Huey and offered the gift. "Okay here! Merry Christmas Huey!"

He carefully unwrapped the paper to reveal a leather-bound journal. "Oh. This looks nice."

"Yeah you're always talking about how you never have something to write down your ideas so…" she trailed off. "I saw it when I was buying Daddy's gift and I thought of you. And! You can add pages into it so you can practically keep it forever!"

He felt his cheeks warm up as he stared at the gift. "I, uh… Jazmine…" he stammered. He finally looked up at Jazmine, whose giant emerald eyes brightly fixated on his maroon ones. "I didn't… get you anything… I mean Granddad got you something and put Riley and I's name on it but…" He grabbed the poorly wrapped gift that he had hidden in the corner of the room.

"What is it?" she inquired, tilting her head to the side. Huey thrusted the gift into her arms. She smiled as she ripped the paper off. "A pony!"

"Yeah," Huey commented, scratching the back of his neck. "Tom won't let you have a real one so… here's an alternative I guess."

"I love it!" she squealed. She enveloped Huey into a tight hug, causing Huey to groan. "I really, _really_ do love it!" She ran off to show off her new gift. Knowing Granddad, he probably just grabbed this from the dollar store at the last minute as he did with Tom and Sarah's gift, but he was glad that Jazmine actually liked it. He made a mental note to try harder on Christmas gifts for her next time since this was her favorite holiday.

He paused for a second. He was going to write it in his journal when he got home.

* * *

He checked the time on his watch. If she was going to be late, he was going to be pissed.

While she did have to do a little more to sneak out since all of her family were currently staying at her house, this was _her idea_ to come up to The Hill at midnight. He could've just given her present on her front porch if it was going to be so much trouble.

Then again, she knew he didn't want to make this a big deal so this was a better option to him.

He could hear the snow crunching under her feet as she ran up the hill. As soon as she was in view, he saw that she didn't have a giant box with her this year, but a small bag. Thank God because the laptop she got him threw him off like no other.

"Hey," she said breathlessly. "Am I late?"

He shrugged. "You got about a minute to spare."

"Oh thank goodness! Nana and Daddy were still up and Grammy was asleep on the couch and yeah… I was struggling to sneak out of the door." She put her hands on her hips as she tried to catch her breath. "Okay. Whose turn to go first?"

"Mine." He pulled a long rectangular box from his pocket and made sure that his watch said midnight before handing the gift to her. "Merry Christmas Jaz."

She took off the wrapping paper to reveal a teal box. Her eyes widened. "Tiffany's?" she squeaked out. She opened the box, unveiling a rose gold chain bracelet with a plate that had her initials in script. She gasped ever so slightly. "What the hell…" she whispered.

"You like it?" he asked.

"Huey…" she softly said, tears in her eyes. "Fuck you!"

"What? What did I do?"

"How much did you spend on this?!" she yelled at him. He cleared his throat. "How many hours did you have to put in for this?"

"Don't ask questions you don't wanna know the answers to."

She scoffed. "Really Huey?"

"Give me a break!" he retorted. "You bought me a goddamn laptop last year! You can't one-up me every time Jazmine!"

"Yeah, but that's different!"

"How?"

She paused for a second. "Because you needed it for school and… you know how my family is!" She looked down at her own bag. "I just got you a scarf and some cologne…" she whined. She gave him the bag as she tried on her bracelet. "Oh my God, it's perfect!"

"Is this a Burberry scarf?"

Jazmine wiped her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, but it was my dad's because he doesn't really like the pattern so he wore it like once. So I didn't pay retail but _you_ …" She pouted looking at the bracelet on her wrist before looking back at Huey. "Do you want me to give you head too? As an extra present?"

A small smirk appeared on Huey's face. "Not in the middle of a snowy night like this."

"You want me to spend the night?"

"Come here." He pulled her into a tight hug and a small kiss on the lips. It was a tough road to get him to be here and this open with her. He was still uncomfortable with showing how much he cared about her when they were around others, especially since he knew Riley and Caesar absolutely loved digging on their relationship. But when they were alone, in their own little world, when no one else could possibly even matter, he was the most affectionate person she knew. Who knew that under the multiple hard layers that deep inside was a soft marshmallow center?

He hated when she put it like that.

"As much as I would appreciate you spending the night," he said as he rested his forehead on hers. "You need to be up early in the morning for all that shit your family does on Christmas day." She rolled her eyes. "I know you're gonna be at five in the morning finishing the gumbo with Nana and making the pies and all that shit. By the way, I'm glad your cooking skills came from Tom's side and not Sarah's."

She took the scarf out of the bag and wrapped it around his neck. "You look nice in it. Very… professional," she noted. "I don't wanna brag but… I have very nice taste when it comes to picking out stuff for you." Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "You still coming over? We're gonna make that vegetarian gumbo again… you know, I think Nana is taking a liking to you." He grunted in response. "Come on, it's a start!"

"If you say so."

She grabbed his hand as they made their way down the hill, kicking the snow in front of her as if she was eleven again and not eighteen-year-old she currently was. She dipped down to grab a handful of snow, but Huey eyed her. "You better not," he simply said. She replied with dropping the snow from her hands.

"You're no fun."

"You'll survive."

She pouted as she looked down at her wrist, which almost immediately changed her demeanor. "You know I'm just gonna and one-up you next year, right?"

He shrugged. "I'd like to see you try."

* * *

He fucked up.

He looked at his watch for the millionth time, watching the minutes tick further away from midnight. He groaned in his hands as he could do nothing from the back of the taxi. He knew she was going to be mad; this had been their tradition for more than a decade and a half and he was about to ruin the streak. It wasn't entirely his fault; his boss had promised him he'd be home by Christmas Eve, which was the only reason why he agreed to go to the convention in the first place. But with the unexpected snow causing a two-hour delay, he knew he wasn't going to make it in time.

The taxi stopped in front of his apartment building and while the ride didn't cost much, Huey felt bad that the guy had to work on Christmas so he threw him a hefty tip. "Thanks man," the driver replied. "Enjoy your Christmas."

He hoped so.

He ran up the stairs of his three-story walkup, mentally hoping that Jazmine wasn't going to immediately yell at him when he walked through the door. He already had his excuses lined up: the flight was delayed, the baggage claim area was crazy, taxis were hard to get. But when he opened the door, he was met with silence.

The small Christmas tree they put on the coffee table brightly blinked its red and green lights. Jazmine almost begged for a real giant tree, but considering that they didn't spend Christmas in their small apartment, they opted for the tiny plastic one. Thank God, because Huey did not want to carry a seven-foot tree up three flights of stairs.

He walked into the kitchen and saw the two pots slowly simmering on the stove. He opened the smaller of the two and wafted the air in his direction. The smell was practically a tradition in his mind. He blew out the tea candles with small wicks that sat atop the bar counter. Jazmine probably lit them earlier around he originally planned to be home and now they were practically finished. A small pang in his chest. He should've been here.

He opened the door to the bedroom and glanced over at the bed. Jazmine was dead asleep, wound into a tight ball with her cinnamon curls sprawled out all over the pillow. She was dressed in her "sexy Santa" outfit, her choice on Christmas Eve ever since they started to live together. She was on his side of the bed but he didn't care at the moment. He was just glad he was home.

Finally, she stirred awake when he put his bag on the floor. "Huey?" she muttered as she sat up. She rubbed her eyes while she turned on the lamp next to the bed, giving the room a brighter, but still soft glow. She looked over and gave him a small smile. "Hey. You made it."

"Yeah." He walked over and kneeled on her side of the bed, giving her a kiss on the forehead. "Long day?"

Jazmine nodded. "The hospital was hectic and I forgot one ingredient for your gumbo so I had to go to the store and _that_ was wild," she explained. A yawn. "By the time I finished everything, I think I just came and passed out on the bed. What time is it anyway?"

Huey sighed heavily. "You don't want to know," he truthfully said. Jazmine looked over his shoulder to the alarm clock and the expression on her face as she saw the time made a wave of guilt wash over him. "I'm so sorry, Jaz. I tried to get here but the airports—"

"Hey," she interrupted. "You're here now. You wanna exchange gifts? I think I have the gift to blow you out the water."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Because I think I'm gonna win."

"Fine," she shrugged. "We'll open them at the same time and see who has the bigger reaction." She handed him a small rectangular box with a smile on her face. He raised an eyebrow. It looked like the same box she used for when she got Granddad's watch restored last year. Did she give him another watch?

He got onto the bed as he pulled out the black velvet box from his bag. With the gifts in each other's hand, Jazmine watched Huey as he stared at the box. "Ready?" He nodded. "One… Two… Three!"

He ripped off the wrapping paper on the box, a trait he usually didn't have but his curiosity got the best of him. He opened the top of the box and instantly felt his jaw drop. Inside was a stick, a _pregnancy test_ stick with a positive sign on it.

Oh _shit_.

He looked up at Jazmine, whose entire face was completely red. "Jaz?" She pulled the ring out of the box and placed it on her left ring finger. The band was rose gold, just like she liked it, with a princess-cut diamond in the middle and two smaller diamonds next to it. She couldn't stop staring at it.

He grabbed her hand and ran his thumb over the ring. She put her free hand over her mouth to stifle her from bursting into tears. "Jaz… you're fucking _pregnant_."

She nodded.

He sighed hard as he ran his fingers through his afro. "You win," he announced. She glanced down at her hand. "No. You win." She giggled as she climbed into his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into the crook of his neck. "So..." he continued.

"So…?"

"Are you going to give me an answer?"

She lifted her head and raised her eyebrow at him. He could help but laugh. "Well… considering that you knocked me up… I think I'm gonna lean towards a 'yes'." She smiled and gave him a kiss on the lips. "Wow… next year's exchange is gonna be _so different_. I mean, think of how much is gonna change! How much thought I'm gonna have to put into one-upping you again."

He couldn't wait.


End file.
